


Day Six: Fireworks

by glow_in_the_dark



Series: 30 Day Merlock OTP Fanfic Challenge [6]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: 30 Day OTP Challenge, Fireworks, Kissing, M/M, Merlock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-25
Updated: 2014-09-25
Packaged: 2018-02-18 17:59:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2357081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glow_in_the_dark/pseuds/glow_in_the_dark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Yeah, John was mentioning that you had a pretty hectic career, something about being a shipwreck treasure hunter? How's that going by the way?"</p><p><i>"Is that what he said? I'm an Oceanic Antiquities Recovering Specialist. There isn't another </i>person<i> who can do what I do."</i> Mike heard Sherlock huff a sound of annoyance down the phone's speaker. <i>"And it's going great, thank you for asking."</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Day Six: Fireworks

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta'd so all mistakes are mine.
> 
> Sorry I haven't written this challenge when it was meant to be up two days ago, I haven't been in a very good head space these past two days and I've been spending all my available time on making my super-secret-cosplay that I'm doing for a cosplay competition in a month, so it's all very busy in my life right now, lol. So I hope this longer-than-I-have-done-yet fic makes up for it C:
> 
> Enjoy!!

"Stamford speaking." Mike answered his phone, glad for the small distraction from the Everest of assignments that were piled on his desk waiting to be marked.

_"Professor Michael Stamford of Saint Bartholomew's training hospital?"_

"Yes, that's me." Mike's brow scrunched minutely in confusion. "Sorry, who is this?"

_"This is Sherlock, Doctor John Watson's partner."_

"So _you're_ the bloke that has captured our John's heart. I have to say, your voice is exactly like John described it." Mike smiled with approval, this Sherlock sounded like a decent man over the phone. "Did the receptionist give you the wrong extension number? I can patch you through to John if you want. He's usually in his office around now."

_"I was actually hoping to talk to you."_

"Oh… ok. What about?" Why would John's partner want to talk to Mike of all people?

_"Our anniversary is coming up exactly two weeks from now and I wanted to do something really special for John. My… occupation, doesn't exactly let us meet often, but I've arranged time for us to be together for our anniversary."_

"Yeah, John was mentioning that you had a pretty hectic career, something about being a shipwreck treasure hunter? How's that going by the way?"

 _"Is that what he said? I'm an Oceanic Antiquities Recovering Specialist. There isn't another_ person _who can do what I do."_ Mike heard Sherlock huff a sound of annoyance down the phone's speaker. _"And it's going great, thank you for asking."_

"No problem." 

_"What was I going to ask of you again?"_

"Something to do with yours and John's anniversary…" Mike prompted.

_"Right. Yes. Thank you. I want to do something special for John, but I don't want him to know that I've planned something for him until the last possible moment. I've emailed you a list of instructions and print outs, you should have received them a few minutes ago."_

Sherlock waits patiently for Mike to log into his email account and see that, yes, Sherlock has sent Mike several pages of information. "Oh wow, you're really going all out, aren't you?"

_"He is the only man I have ever loved or will love, I want to do something for John that shows him just how much he means to me."_

"Well this will certainly do it." Mike can't help the fond smile that tugs at his lips. "I'll be happy to help however I can."

_"Brilliant."_

\----------------------------

John grumbled as he walked down streets covered in red and gold decorations, people overcrowding the walkways and cars clogging the roads. "Sending me all the way to Shanghai for a medical conference that suddenly gets _cancelled_ then telling me that it would _cost too much_ to cancel the hotel reservations and change my flight. What the _hell_ was the board thinking?"

It wasn't the scenery that was making John miserable. Shanghai was _beautiful_. Stunning in it's mix of futuristic modernism and cultural heritage, especially with the Chinese New Year being tomorrow. The people were pulling out all the stops to decorate their shops, homes and streets, centuries old traditions being remembered and celebrated.

The thing that's making him miserable was that John and Sherlock's anniversary is also tomorrow. They'd officially have been together for three years, if you didn't count all of Sherlock's creepy stalking previously before that. And if you did count the stalking then it was something more like thirty years. The mer was persistent, that much was true.

They had talked about meeting up at their dock if John could get work off, but then this bloody trip to Shanghai had come up and he had been forced into going only to have the conference cancelled at the last minute.

So John felt justified in having a wee pity-party-for-one, eating the local cuisine and visiting the most popular tourist destinations alone.

\----------------------------

A knocking at his hotel door roused John up from the couch and away form the Chinese soap opera he was currently getting _obsessed with._ He couldn't understand a word of it, but was getting the general gist of the plot, and the costumes and sets were a work of art in themselves, the whole thing more than easy to become absorbed in.

An employee of the hotel stood there smiling at him, bowing in greeting. John bowed politely back. 

"Are you Dr. Watson?"

"Yes…"

"I have a message for you." The man's English was heavily accented but perfectly understandable. John had picked up on a few phrases of Mandarin, but was thoroughly impressed with just how many people in the city of Shanghai could speak more than one language. "Several messages actually that I've been asked to give you in a specific order."

"Ok?" John was more than a little bit confused.

The hotel employee gave John a small red envelope that was trimmed in gold oriental patterns. John raised an eyebrow as he took it, pulling the lip of the envelope open.

Inside was a plain white piece of card and on it was a sort of scrawling, elongated penmanship. 

_**Happy 3rd Anniversary - S**_

John leant heavily on the doorframe, his free hand coming up to cover his mouth in shock, breathing harshly through his nose as he looked down at familiar handwriting that could have only come from one being on this entire planet.

He looked up at the deliverer of the message that was currently turning his world upside down as if the smartly dressed man held the answers to the thousands of questions that were currently churning his brain to mush. The man only smiled at him, holding out a second envelope.

John took it with shaking fingers. 

The second envelope was exactly like the first, red with gold trimming in oriental patterns. Inside was another card with the same terrible handwriting, the words making John smile as he choked on his sudden inhale.

_**I'm waiting for you. Come if convenient - S**_

John took the next envelope that was handed to him with slightly steadier hands.

_**If inconvenient, come anyway - S**_

The final envelope he took with a full on grin cramping his cheeks.

_**Could be dangerous - S**_

Inside that final envelope was also a map of where to meet Sherlock and what time. John bowed his thanks to the hotel employee, closing the door to go get ready for his anniversary date with a mermaid.

\----------------------------

John left the hotel at eleven pm, working his way through thoroughly overly crowded streets to the city's harbour edge.

It took him an embarrassingly long time to navigate his way down to the dock Sherlock had circled on the map, barely fifteen minutes to spare before midnight. But everything was worth it the moment he heard a familiar voice arguing in completely fluent Mandarin. 

"You could have just asked me to meet you in Shanghai instead of all of this... and your penmanship is awful." John calls over the bickering.

Two sets of eyes turn to look at him, John only being able to focus on the ones the colour of ice.

"Good enough to read." Sherlock holds out his hand, smiling warmly when John's hand takes it quickly to cover the webbing from prying eyes, the mer merely smirking as he helps his lover down into the boat he is currently sitting in. The moment John is safely seated beside him Sherlock kisses him, trying to press all the emotion he has for this single human being into John's lips.

"How are you even here?" John asks, pulling back and actually looking at Sherlock. "And what the hell are you wearing?"

Sherlock has a dark woollen belstaff coat on to encase his mildly translucent skin, a beautiful blue cashmere scarf wrapped around his neck to cover where the coat does not and pulled up as high as it can go to hide the bottom of his gills. His lap is covered in a large blanket that John finds is soaking wet by touching it. 

John's not an idiot, so he figures that the old man who is currently pushing their gondola-esc boat out of the crowded dock and further into the harbour is somebody who knows what Sherlock is. It makes John relax a tension he hadn't realised he had been holding at the thought that Sherlock isn't in any immediate danger of being exposed. 

"I wanted to surprise you for our anniversary." Sherlock arranges their bodies into a more comfortable position, snugging John up against his side, his clothed arm around his lover's shoulders and his webbed hand hidden under John's jacket collar. Sherlock pressing a smiling kiss into John's hair as he feels John slip a hand beneath the sodden blanket to scratch up his scales then smooth them back down.

"Consider me surprised." John laughs. "Pleasantly surprised."

They sit in silence together, simply happy to exist in each others presence as they are taken out to the middle of the harbour where several other boats are idling lazily, preparing for midnight, only minutes away.

"I got you something." John digs into his jacket pocket, pulling out a moderately worn black leather, flattish square box. "You don't have to wear it, but I hope you'll keep it somewhere safe." With that he places the box gingerly on Sherlock's lap, looking out over the water at the city of Shanghai as all around them people start getting more and more excited, midnight now mere seconds away.

Sherlock brings his right hand out from under the blanket where he was hiding itsnot-exactly-human webbed. With deft fingers, he opens the box.

Inside is a simple silver banded bracelet, just over a centimetre thick with a folding clasp to secure it closed. The moment Sherlock touches the simple band he is able to determine that is made of titanium, a highly corrosion resistant metal.

"You have no idea how hard it was to find a jeweller who would do the engraving right then and there _and_ could speak English." The moment John had finished speaking a loud bang echoed throughout the harbour, the sky lighting up in a neon pink as the first firework exploded. The people around them clapped and cheered, the driver of their small boat politely having turned around to watch the fireworks, giving them a semblance of privacy.

Sherlock barely heard the explosions, pulling the bracelet out of it's box to read the inscription engraved on the inside.

_**Could be dangerous**_

A choked off laugh escaped through Sherlock's lips as he tried to both secure the bracelet around his left wrist and kiss a firework-awed John at the same time. John let out a chuckle of his own as he returned the kiss, pressing the clasp of the bracelet closed, fingers brushing over the titanium fondly.

Once the bracelet was secure Sherlock deepened the kiss, licking into John's mouth. John moaned, hands coming up to push the scarf down to fingers could press against the mer's gills.

Sherlock nipped at his bottom lip, soothing over the sting with lips and tongue, moving on to cover every expanse of John's face in kisses.

"I've been carrying that thing around with me for _months_ now." John said once his mouth was free to move. "I couldn't figure out what I wanted to get engraved on it." John forcefully turned Sherlock's head to look up at the breath-taking fireworks display, knowing that they'd regret it later if they didn't watch them now.

"That joke's going to get old one day." Sherlock mocked the words he had spoken so long ago that never failed to bring a warped grin to John's face. Their hands were pressed together on Sherlock's lap under the wet blanket, John toying with Sherlock's webbing and pressing against the scales of his tail.

"I highly doubt it."

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked it then please **KUDOS** and if you _really_ liked it then please **COMMENT**!! I love hearing from you guys!!
> 
> Day three of the 30 Day Fanfic OTP Challenge. Tomorrows challenge is: **Cosplaying** ..... cause that will be totally easy and doable, lmao.
> 
> You can also check out my tumblr for other goodies and treats if you want: glow-dark-art.tumblr.com  
>  
> 
> When I was studying earlier on this year I got a TV for Christmas from my parents and in the free channels included in my apartment was several Chinese channels. And for several hours in the early evening there would be Chinese soap operas playing, and whilst I didn't understand a single word of it I was watching it every night I got home from my course, lol. They are seriously addicting and I can't even describe how detailed the costumes and sets are, it's quite frankly ridiculous in its extravagance but so fucking beautiful OMG. I figured John would take to them much like I did, lol. The Chinese really know how to do drama.


End file.
